


as you are

by eururong



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, Angst, Apocalypse, Artificial Intelligence, Cohabitation, Future, Gangs, M/M, Murder, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:00:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eururong/pseuds/eururong
Summary: Some people call him the best mechanic in Seoul, but Chanyeol's just trying to make a living in a dangerous, unforgiving city. His life is routine and mundane... until he's gifted with the project of a lifetime - 078KAI.





	as you are

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to the mods of this fest for being kind and accommodating for my deadline-averse ass  
> i participated in this fest to try and push myself and step outside of my comfort zone and WOOH BOY was i uncomfortable  
> i have like 17 outlines/versions of this fic and somehow this is none of them? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> thanks to k for the feedback and cheerleading!
> 
> i hope prompter and everyone reading can enjoy ♥
> 
> [padlet](https://padlet.com/switchbladefightsx/opf89mdnp2hq) with some reference and inspo pictures (no real spoilers) | [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVN1B-tUpgs)
> 
> (updated 11/05/2018 for minor edits and formatting)
> 
> do not repost anywhere! (yes, i'm talking to you @sadpcy_, @ncity127)

When Kyungsoo had first asked Chanyeol to take a look at his arm, Kyungsoo thought he’d hear something about the circuits or wiring being busted. But instead, Chanyeol had poked and prodded at him longer than Kyungsoo considered necessary, until finally, he said, “Your sensors are dying.”

The sensors, implanted into the remaining flesh of Kyungsoo’s shoulder at the tender age of seven, let him move and control his bionic arm. Dead sensors meaning Kyungsoo’s arm began to be more of a burden than a blessing. He’d given up entirely on glasses after he’d broken half a dozen and had been thoroughly humiliated when his arm flailed wildly during a meeting at work.

“Can you replace them?”

“I guess I could,” Chanyeol sighed, “The problem is the sensors. I don’t have any myself. You’d be better off going to a hospital that has a bionics department.”

Kyungsoo scoffed. Hospitals in Seoul were a joke. He could go to one of the government hospitals — run by the utterly inept and corrupt — and wait for months to be treated or even seen. He’d be able to be seen soon at one of the private hospitals — run by individual doctors or, on this side of the Han, the Lotus Front — but he seriously doubted he’d be able to afford any of that.

“You know I don’t have the money,” Kyungsoo complained. 

“Maybe Baekhyun can put a word in for you,” Chanyeol suggested. He tapped at the comm device on his wrist, opening up the hologram display and scrolling until he reached Baekhyun’s contact information. With a few gestures, he’s sent it to Kyungsoo, whose comm device vibrated with Baekhyun’s alphanumeric. 

Chanyeol watches as Kyungsoo’s face twists in thought, brows furrowed and mouth turned downwards at the corners.

“What if I brought you the sensors?”

Chanyeol let out a low whistle and leaned back in his chair, scratching at the back of his neck. “I could put you in the direction of some, sure. Not super easy to get. Definitely not in a place you want to go. They’re not cheap either… Not to mention I’d have to cut open your shoulder.” 

He gestured around his apartment, cramped and cluttered with dirty and rusted spare parts, “And this isn’t exactly a hospital wing.” 

“I don’t care,” Kyungsoo said emphatically, “I’d rather you help me than spend all of my money. If I can get them, you’ll help me?”

Chanyeol’s eyes, surprised and confused, softened into something more empathetic. “Of course I’ll help you.”

And that’s how Kyungsoo ended up here — deep in the heart of Haebangchon. Now he was surrounded by ramshackle buildings with the reflection of neon lights dancing on the puddles on the street, the ghostly ruin of Seoul Tower dominating the night sky. The roads are practically deserted, which only fuels Kyungsoo’s fear. There were always people on the streets of Seoul, no matter what time of day it was.

Quickly, Kyungsoo checks the pinned address Chanyeol had sent him on his comm device, trying to memorize the map in front of him.

Down the alley from where he stands, a door to a building flings open, and a man comes tumbling out, falling to his knees before he rolls across the pavement. Kyungsoo hurries to hide between a crumbling staircase and a building, peeking around the corner with one eye to watch the man attempt to scramble to his feet. He’s pleading in English, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widen as he watches another man exit, the outline of a gun in his hand clearly visible.

The gunshot shatters the air, echoing in the darkness. Kyungsoo can feel it in his teeth. After nudging the body on the ground with the toe of his shoe, the man returns to the building. It’s not the first time Kyungsoo has seen someone killed — it was impossible to escape death in a city like this — but it’s the first time he’s seen someone killed like _that_. With no mercy, no emotion, just a cold-blooded execution in a back alley, left to rot without a second glance. Kyungsoo then turns on his heels and walks back in the direction he came, crouched slightly to try and silence the sound of his shaky footsteps, swallowing down the sour taste at the back of his tongue.

 _Now_ he sees why Chanyeol hadn’t offered to come and get the myoelectric sensors himself.

Yongsan District was the No-Man’s Lands in Seoul. Though controlled in name by the Lotus Front, along with its neighbors of Mapo and Seongdong, the Crimson Dragons were in a constant battle to expand their influence and control across the river. The two factions were playing a constant tug of war with each other, which was deadly more often than not. These types of murders and crimes weren’t even reported anymore because of how often they occurred.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, gains his bearings, and prays he makes it out and doesn’t end up like the man in the alley — an unidentified body, thrown out like garbage, his death unknown to anyone but God.

———

“Good morning, Chanyeol.”

The lights in Chanyeol’s apartment switch on all at once, bright enough that Chanyeol pulls his blanket over his head to try and block them out.

“The PM 2.5 index is at 750 this morning. Please be sure to wear your mask if you choose to go outside of the apartment.”

“Thank you, Eve.” Chanyeol’s voice is rusty with sleep. “Do I have any messages?”

“Yes, you do. You have three new messages from Kyungsoo, and one new message from Baekhyun. Would you like me to read them?”

Sitting bolt upright in his bed, Chanyeol stands before his brain fully caught up to him. He sways and stumbles as he makes his way out of the bed, picking up his comm device on the table.  


The disembodied voice of Eve repeats, “Would you like me to read them?”

“No,” Chanyeol says, a bit too loudly, struggling to unlock the messages himself. When he does, he goes to Kyungsoo’s messages first.

 **> > from kyungsoo**  
i see why you didn’t want to get these sensors yourself  
there has to be a less shady place that can supply them  
either way, i got them 

Chanyeol sighs, the relief that floods his body enough to have his knees shaking. He collapses into his work chair and runs his hands over his face. The guilt over sending Kyungsoo into Yongsan District had been eating Chanyeol alive, leaving him tossing and turning all night — but he hadn’t had much of a choice. After the last time he went to that supplier, Chanyeol had nightmares about the things he saw for _weeks_.

As much as he liked Kyungsoo and wanted to help him, even a mention of living in Crimson Dragon territory could get you killed there, and Chanyeol just wasn’t brave enough.

 **> > to kyungsoo**  
i was worried, i’m glad  
let me know when you can come, we’ll do the sensors asap

Chanyeol replaces his comm on its charger and stands to go to the bathroom and prepare for the day. His apartment wasn’t the most opulent, but it was a damn good size for Seoul. It was enough space for a bed and his work area, though his tools were continually overflowing, and he even had his own micro bathroom and kitchen. It was miles beyond what most had. In Seoul, having a tiny, stinking cage in a room filled with dozens of other people could still be considered a blessing.

“Eve, show me the news,” he commands, wetting his toothbrush as his mirror powers on. He drags a few of the news feeds away from the center so he can see himself, his eyes flitting back and forth between the different broadcasts.

The weather is overcast, rainy, and dangerously polluted, but he already knew that. The Confederate States have declared martial law yet again — anyone could have seen that coming. Reports of ships from Southeast Asia, teeming with refugees, being detained and burned offshore. More migrants coming from the North and from China, creating ghost town after ghost town as they tried to start over in Seoul. Chanyeol spits and gargles before splashing water on his face.

Another message from Kyungsoo comes through, flashing in the middle of his mirror. 

**> >from kyungsoo**  
today okay? i’m free

“Eve, send a reply to Kyungsoo. Say, _today is fine, come whenever you can_.”

Chanyeol’s in his shower pod when the next message from Kyungsoo comes in. His shower is the only thing Chanyeol truly hated about his apartment because the shower head was too low for him to wet himself properly. Showering always ended up being a workout for his legs and glutes, and today was no different. He’s crouching to wash the shampoo from his hair, eyes squeezed shut tight when Eve asks, “Chanyeol, there’s a new message from Kyungsoo. Would you like me to read it?”

“Fuck,” Chanyeol hisses, his right eye stinging after suds somehow pass through, “Yes! Read it!”

Kyungsoo’s message echoes around his apartment in Eve’s slightly robotic tone, “Getting into my car now. Be there in twenty.”

Chanyeol lets out another curse and finishes his shower as quick as possible, before stepping out onto his drying mat. His apartment is a mess and not sterile _at all_ , and Chanyeol’s hair is still dripping as he fumbles around to throw tools back into their proper storage containers, cleaning off the piles of spare parts from his desk. The only scalpel he has in the entire apartment is dotted with rust, and he stares at it in a mixture of confusion and panic when his door alarm flashes.

“You have a visitor, Chanyeol.”

A quick hand swipe across the door powers on the exterior camera, and Chanyeol can see Kyungsoo standing outside, most of his face concealed by his pollution mask. Another swipe of the hand unlocks it, and Chanyeol pulls the door open. 

When Kyungsoo pulls his mask off, his eyes drift down to the scalpel clenched in Chanyeol’s hand. “Planned on starting in the doorway?”

“No!” Chanyeol yelps, cheeks flushing, “I just, uh, was getting ready to sterilize this.”

Kyungsoo takes off his shoes and drops his backpack to the floor with a significant thump. “Don’t worry, I brought med supplies too. The same guy was selling them, and I figured yours wouldn’t be very good.” 

Chanyeol sighs, tossing his scalpel back to his desk. “What a relief. I’m glad you made it in and out of Haebangchon, Soo. I’m sorry I-”

“Don’t be sorry,” Kyungsoo interrupts, his face and tone serious, “I don’t blame you for a minute. But I got what I needed. Anyway, let me show you the supplies I got.”

Opening up his backpack, Kyungsoo removes the sensors and a decent sized black box. Inside, Chanyeol finds sanitizing wipes and liquids, a variety of surgery tools, a numbing cream, a tarp, suture paste, and even a tiny laser that Kyungsoo tells him is to cauterize if things go south. 

“Not that they will,” Kyungsoo reassures him, powering down his arm and detaching it from his shoulder. He gingerly places it on Chanyeol’s work desk and pulls the numbing cream out of the kit. “This needs to sit for a few minutes, so lay down the tarp while I do it.”

Hands shaking just slightly, Chanyeol does so, trying not to think of how it will be speckled with blood in only a few minutes. Kyungsoo must notice Chanyeol’s nervousness because he offers him a pat on the shoulder and asks for Eve to play some relaxing music. It doesn’t help, but the gesture is nice. 

After the numbing cream is removed and Kyungsoo and the tools have been sterilized, Chanyeol scans for the exact locations of Kyungsoo’s sensors, marking them on his skin with small dots. He grips the scalpel harder than necessary as he presses the blade into the skin, tiny droplets of blood rising to the surface. 

The patter of blood falling to the tarp is almost soothing, and though Chanyeol has to breathe through his mouth to avoid the sharp, metallic scent of the blood, it’s not as bad as he had feared. The sensors aren’t very deep, and they’re easier to remove than he thought. He’s already half-way through when Kyungsoo speaks.

“The man in Haebangchon, he didn’t just give me the sensors and the medical supplies.”

“Oh?” Chanyeol tosses the final dead sensor to the ground. “He gave you something? Like, for free?”

“Yeah, for free.”

Chanyeol frowns, fumbling to open the package of new sensors with his blood-slicked gloves, saying, “Giving shit away for free doesn’t sound like Lu Han.”

Kyungsoo stays silent so Chanyeol continues, “I’m assuming you’re telling me this because I’d be interested.”

Kyungsoo hisses through clenched teeth when Chanyeol inserts one of the sensors and closes the wound with suture paste. “It’s something you could fix up and sell for a decent amount, I figured. At least way more than I can afford to pay you for this.”

“So he gave you a load of junk?”

“I’m sure he thought it was junk,” Kyungsoo’s voice is muffled because of how tight his jaw is, “But I’m sure you’ll see its potential. I think you’ll be surprised.”

When all the sensors are replaced, Chanyeol takes another look at Kyungsoo’s shoulder before he removes his gloves and tosses them down onto the tarp.

“Remember, you’ll need to let the wounds heal a bit more before you wear the arm again. The weight can pull the suture glue open. But let’s test them out,” Chanyeol pulls out his tablet and powers up the sensors. Kyungsoo grimaces and rolls his shoulder experimentally, watching as the arm moves and flexes on the table in front of him. Chanyeol grins.

Kyungsoo doesn’t bring him his precious junk until the next week when his shoulder was healed enough to wear his arm again. Whatever it is, it’s in a giant black box that barely fit through the door and takes up most of the floor space in Chanyeol’s apartment.

He stares at it, dumbfounded and unsure of where even to start.

So he starts with the most straightforward question, “What is it?”

“An android.”

 _An android_. Chanyeol had seen androids before, but only from afar. They weren’t incredibly rare, but in a neighborhood like his, no one had one. Going into Gangnam or Pyeongchang, you could see them walking alongside their affluent masters -- but they were just too expensive for anyone besides the very well-off to afford. 

They had come remarkably far from when Chanyeol was a child. Back then, androids were nothing more than human-shaped robots, made of white neoplastic and metal, too artificial to induce anything besides an unsettling feeling that crept slowly down your spine. In the decade and a half since then, they had become nearly indistinguishable from humans in appearance, aside from the glowing serial number on their wrists and the strange, mechanic look of their eyes.

When Kyungsoo opens the lid of the box, Chanyeol’s breath is taken away.

Though damaged and dirty, the android is gorgeous. Not that every android _wasn’t_ gorgeous — they were manufactured to be — but this one is something else. It’s curled on its side inside the box, almost as if it was sleeping. Completely nude, it's dark caramel skin was in sharp contrast with its shocking platinum blonde hair. The android’s features are rugged and chiseled -- a strong, sturdy jaw and nose, with thick, plush lips. Chanyeol can see some of the physical damage to the android on its left leg, and he’s sure he’ll find even worse damage lying underneath.

But how could Lu Han think that something so gorgeous was junk?

“That guy, Lu Han, said something or another is completely shot, and it couldn’t be repaired. Too expensive to repair so probably just good for parts.”

“And you decided you wanted to bring it to me?”

“Well, his guy isn’t the best mechanic in Seoul.”

“Neither am I.”

“Take the compliment,” Kyungsoo smiles wryly, “Anyway, it was too good of an opportunity to leave behind.”

“Thanks,” Chanyeol says quietly, staring down at the android, mind whirling with questions and possibilities.

After Kyungsoo leaves, Chanyeol manages to prop the android into his chair, despite how heavy it is, and dabs at the sweat beading along his brow. At the sight of the flaccid cock between the android’s legs, the tips of Chanyeol’s ears grow hot, and he lays a towel across its lap to keep it out of sight. He supposes it’s strange — to want to give a defunct android privacy — but Chanyeol can’t help it.

The first thing to do, Chanyeol decides, before even trying to figure out what’s wrong with the thing, is to clean the android up. It’s covered in a thin layer of grime and dirt, and God knows what else. With a bowl of warm water and a washcloth, Chanyeol wipes at the android’s skin. From this close, he can see how the skin is poreless — a matte, synthetic attempt at human skin. It’s cold to the touch, and maneuvering its heavy limbs almost makes Chanyeol feel like he’s handling a dead body, but he supposes it's not all really all that different.

When he’s finished, the bowl of water is a discolored, murky brown. After washing off a particularly dark patch on the android’s wrist, Chanyeol can see the serial tattooed into the android's skin.  
**078KAI**

———

Chanyeol doesn’t make much progress on the android that day, or the next. He has a half dozen broken comm devices on a deadline and his neighbor’s projection cube that he’s doing in exchange for some home cooking. One of the comm devices needs for the hologram lens to be completely swapped out, which takes a few hours of Chanyeol’s time and even makes him forget that Baekhyun is supposed to be stopping by.

The edge of his door frame illuminates red, and Eve’s voice fills the apartment. “You have a visitor, Chanyeol.”

“Shit,” Chanyeol mutters, staring at the android propped in his only extra chair. It’s still naked, save for the towel draped across its crotch. Although Chanyeol doesn’t intend for the android to be a secret, he has the sudden urge to try and hide it somewhere. Looking around his apartment, he realizes there’s absolutely _nowhere_ to put it. He could hole it up in the bathroom or stuff it under the bed, in theory.

“You have a visitor, Chanyeol.”

Eve’s insistence reminds Chanyeol he doesn’t have time. Chanyeol activates the screen before he opens the door, just to make sure it’s Baekhyun. Baekhyun tosses his pollution mask to the floor as soon as he’s inside, glaring up at Chanyeol.

“Were you jacking off or something? It took you forever to open — Holy _fuck_. Sorry. Didn’t know you had company…”

Chanyeol follows Baekhyun’s eyes over his shoulder to where he’s spied the android in the chair. From over here, it just looks like some naked man sprawled at an odd angle. The skin of Chanyeol’s cheeks turns flaming red.

“No, it’s not… It’s not a person.” Baekhyun only raises an eyebrow. “It’s, uh, an android. A defunct one.”

Baekhyun steps around him to look at the android up close. Chanyeol knew it wasn’t Baekhyun’s first time seeing an android. In his line of work, Baekhyun had plenty of wealthy clients and sponsors, who lived in the most expensive areas of Seoul, who had human and non-human servants in abundance.

“He’s a pretty one,” Baekhyun notes, pulling back the towel across the android’s crotch and looking back at Chanyeol in amusement when he gets a peek. “So, what’s his story?”

“It’s a long one,” Chanyeol sighs. Baekhyun lets out a bark of laughter muttering _Aren’t they always?_ and flops onto Chanyeol’s bed, kicking his shoes to the floor and getting comfortable, propped up on one arm and resting his cheek in the palm of his hand. It was always like that with Baekhyun — no matter how many days or weeks or even months went in-between them talking, when he stepped back into Chanyeol’s life it was like he never even left.

“A friend gave him to me. Kyungsoo, I’ve told you about him.” 

Baekhyun nods in confirmation. 

“I’m going to try and fix him up and see if I can find a buyer,” Chanyeol says.

“Oh, you’ll definitely find someone if you can get him working. I can help to find someone if you want.”

“That’d be great,” Chanyeol says, exhaling, and flops into his work chair, “I can always use more cash.” 

Baekhyun chews on his thumb, a strange twinkle glimmering in his eye before he speaks. “You know, Lotus Front is always looking for people. I can put in a good word for you with Yixing. You’d be able to move to a nicer flat over in my side of the district. They pay well.”

“Yeah, until they kill you,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. The talk of working for the Lotus Front came up too often with Baekhyun for Chanyeol’s comfort, and it always went with the discussions of good pay and benefits. There was no doubt that working for them came with stability that was near impossible to come by for anyone else, but there are two sides to every coin. Growing up in Seongdong District, Chanyeol was no fool to that cost of falling out of the Lotus Front’s good graces.

Baekhyun is silent for a long moment before sighing and pushing himself up so he’s sitting on the bed. “Suit yourself then. So, what’s the droid’s problem?”

“Besides the busted left leg I dunno. I haven’t actually got him open yet. I had all these stupid things to repair on deadline.”

At Baekhyun’s urging, Chanyeol decides to start running his tests then. He should probably finish what he was working on first, but he’d rather have Baekhyun stop his nagging.

Chanyeol’s only read about android mechanics from some manuals he pirated from the internet, so he’s unsure about how to even get into the android’s brain. Although it wasn’t actually called a brain, officially the Central Control Unit, Chanyeol has a sneaking suspicion that there’s where the most damage lies. Most of an android can be repaired with some wires, circuits, bolts, and 3D printed neoplastic. But any damage in the CCU would be expensive and time-consuming.

In the midst of fumbling with the release panels on the back of the android’s ear and neck, Chanyeol complains, “This whole thing feels kind of weird.”

“Why?” Baekhyun asks from the bed, playing with his comm device and being absolutely no help.

“I have this naked guy propped up in my chair for two days, and now I’m trying to peel back his scalp and open his head.”

“So, give him a name,” Baekhyun suggests, “That way you can stop calling it ‘naked guy’ at least.”

It’s not a terrible idea. Chanyeol had just been calling it ‘android, android’ in his head. But Chanyeol had never been good with choosing names. As a child, his pet cat had been affectionately named ‘Kitten’ to everyone’s chagrin. He thinks back to the serial number tattooed on the android’s wrist. 078KAI.

“I’ll call him Kai,” Chanyeol declares, just as he manages to find the release trigger. The back of the android’s skull opens up, parting straight down the middle with a quiet squeak.

“How poetic,” Baekhyun teases, but Chanyeol agrees. _Kai_ \-- something new, something unfolding right before his very eyes.

The inside of the android’s -- _Kai’s_ \-- skull is too dark to see, so Chanyeol grabs his headlamp from his work desk and throws it on, ignoring the smirk from Baekhyun at how dorky he looks.

When Chanyeol finally sees the damage inside his jaw drops in shock. 

“What?” Baekhyun asks, brows knit in worry when Chanyeol is silent for so long.

Everywhere Chanyeol looks, the wires and circuits connecting Kai's Control Unit -- his _brain_ —have been spliced and cut. These weren’t the marks of usual wear and tear that happens over the years — someone had done this deliberately and methodically. At the center, surrounded by the circuit boards and wiring was the android’s battery. Chanyeol had seen them in photographs and diagrams before. The batteries were crafted from diamonds and recharged with glucose, which was quite useful for keeping up human appearances by requiring androids to eat. Typically, the battery should be glimmering, but the one in Kai’s unit was cracked and dull. Whoever had rendered Kai useless had gone so far as to destroy the most valuable piece of equipment in the android.

“The guy Kyungsoo got him from was right, he’s basically just good for parts,” Chanyeol sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Someone fucking destroyed his Central Unit. Every wire needs to be replaced, and his battery is trash.”

Baekhyun lets out a low whistle and stops playing with his comm device, looking at Chanyeol quite seriously. “If you could fix him, how much could you sell him for?”

“I’ve only heard rumors about android prices. He doesn’t look like one of the latest models from Aeon or Huawei so probably somewhere around eight million won?”

Baekhyun nods, chewing on a thumbnail. “And how much would the repairs cost?”

“Fuck, I have no idea how much the glucose batteries cost,” Chanyeol sighs, turning in his chair to face his computer.

He opens up the backchannel chat he uses to communicate with others around Seoul. People like him — mechanics, coders, small-time thieves, and procurers of special items — people trying to make a living in the unforgiving city doing what they can. He searches to try and find any references made to the batteries, not very hopeful. After all, most of these people were doing small, part-time jobs. An android was _definitely_ not a small job. On top of that, the channel was erased every month. But he finds a reference in a post made about a week ago, detailing someone in the Gangnam area who was selling interesting items.

“Someone said they saw batteries for about a million won,” Chanyeol groans. It’s not as expensive as he feared, but he doesn’t have anything close to that kind of cash lying around, and it would take him months to save. Not only that, but it would require crossing the river and going into Crimson Dragon territory. 

“Hmm,” Baekhyun hums, “A million for the battery, maybe another million for the rest of the repairs? His leg and wires and shit. That still puts you at a profit of six million or so, which isn’t bad.”  


“It wouldn’t be if I had the two million for the fucking repairs.”

“I can lend you the money.”

“What? No,” Chanyeol scoffs, turning back to his computer. There’s no way he’d take such a significant sum of money from Baekhyun.

“Why not? It’s not a small amount or anything, but I don’t mind,” Baekhyun shrugs, “Plus, I want to see this thing.”

Chanyeol chews on his thumb, mulling it over. Although Baekhyun had much more money than Chanyeol, and had for some time now, he had never asked him for money. It wasn’t even about pride - it was a simple fact that they both knew how quickly money could deteriorate friendships and families. They’d seen it themselves - the anger and resentment that could turn to violence. But at the same time, without Baekhyun’s money, there’s probably no way this project could ever be finished.

“Think of it as a loan,” Baekhyun offers, “When you sell the droid, you give me some of the profits. Seventy-thirty.”

With a sigh, Chanyeol swivels back to look at Baekhyun, “Okay. You have yourself a deal. Thanks, Hyun.”

———

Although the Gangnam area itself was relatively safe, getting in and out was not. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun lived on the North side of the Han, in territory controlled by the Lotus Front. There were checkpoints on pretty much every bridge spanning the river, operated by both the Lotus Front and the Crimson Dragons, were made to exploit and target innocent citizens who want to travel between the two territories. Deadly exchanges on the bridges between the two groups were almost as common as breathing. But there were ways to get around them of course, if you knew the right people or had the right connections.

Baekhyun _always_ knew the right people. He puts Chanyeol in contact with a man named Minseok, who can usher Chanyeol across the water and into Gangnam without having to hand over a large sum of money or the passwords to his personal accounts.

Chanyeol meets Minseok at dawn underneath the Cheongdamn bridge, his blue motorboat tied up in rocks coating the shoreline. Minseok is dressed in the red jacket and yellow hat he promised, but Chanyeol still approaches warily.

“Chanyeol?” Minseok nods, foot propped up on one of the seats in the boat, “You’re right on time.”

“Thanks for taking me,” Chanyeol bows politely.

“Of course. Like we discussed, half now and half when we land.”

Minseok’s face is boyish, with keen, almond-shaped eyes that remind Chanyeol of a fox. He raises his eyebrows at Chanyeol, an expression of youthful impatience across his face. Chanyeol fumbles with his comm device, sending half of the agreed payment to Minseok’s alphanumeric. Minseok takes a moment to confirm, and then steps onto shore, gesturing for Chanyeol to board the boat.

“I’ll wait for an hour at the spot in Gangnam,” Minseok explains as he unties the boat and pushes is away from the shore, “Any longer and they’ll probably come and slam me. If you’re not back, you’ll be on your own getting back to Gwangjin.”

“Fair enough,” Chanyeol says over the roar of the boat motor. The last thing he wants to do is try and figure his own way home with an expensive diamond battery in his pocket, ripe for the taking.

Minseok navigates the boat under the Cheongdam bridge, out of the sight of the small outposts stationed on the bridge above. It only takes a few minutes for them to cross, but by then the sun has fully risen, bathing the Seoul skyline in bright orange. After Chanyeol transfers the rest of his payment, Minseok disembarks first, helping Chanyeol out of the boat and then securing it around a post on the shoreline. 

“One hour,” Minseok reminds Chanyeol as he shrugs on his backpack.

“One hour.” 

Once in Gangnam, Chanyeol doesn’t look any different from the citizens that live on this side of the Han. He’s dressed a little nicer than usual, given that Gangnam was still home to most of the middle-class and wealthy residents of Seoul. He tries to walk with purpose, to blend in and keep attention away from himself. 

His destination looks like every other office building in Gangnam - sleek steel and glass, nondescript and underwhelming. Chanyeol makes his way up to the contact, an open office, with bland, neutral decor on the third floor.

“I’m here to see Junmyeon?” Chanyeol says to the receptionist, a young girl in her twenties who looks incredibly bored. She gestures for him to have a seat at the row of chairs to his right. Chanyeol folds himself in his chair and tries to calm himself, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants and breathing deeply. 

Chanyeol had expected to meet someone tall and burly, with scars and tattoos. But instead, the man Chanyeol is meeting, Junmyeon, is short and slight and much more handsome than Chanyeol had assumed he would be. He looks ordinary -- almost dull -- and nothing like Chanyeol assumed someone running a shady business front would look like. 

His voice bright and chipper, “Chanyeol, right? Follow me!” 

Junmyeon leads Chanyeol into a back office, empty save for a plain wooden desk and two office chairs. 

“So, how did you find me?” Junmyeon asks, fiddling with a panel on the wall.

“On the serv.”

The panel pops open, revealing a handprint reader. Junmyeon scans his right hand, then his left, and the wall parts to reveal a small shelf inside with a dozen or so black boxes in various sizes inside. Junmyeon grabs one of the smallest, barely larger than a ring box, before shutting everything once more.

“The serv is useful, but a little too public for my liking,” Junmyeon sighs as he sits in the chair on one side of the desk, placing the box in front of him, “Don’t put anything about our interact today on the serv. Understood?” 

Chanyeol was wrong earlier, to assume that Junmyeon was someone boring or uneventful. There’s a passionate glint in Junmyeon’s eyes that tell Chanyeol he’s not someone to be messed with or ignored. Chanyeol nods his head furiously, gracelessly, feeling his palms slick with sweat. When he sits in the chair it’s with a clumsy thump, Junmyeon wincing in either sympathy or distaste.  
Junmyeon pulls back the top of the box to reveal the diamond glucose battery nestled within, shimmering brightly despite the fact it’s not powered on. 

“One battery, like you requested. This fits the majority of Aeon and Huawei models, except for the newest A239 and H28-B. They’ve moved to a different design.”

“It’s not one of the newer models, so it should fit.”

“Good. I got your down-payment of 500,000 coins. The other one million and it’s yours.”

Chanyeol’s stomach sinks. “Another million? I thought the batteries were one million each…. Shouldn’t it just be another 500,000?”

Junmyeon shrugs and closes the box, resting his hand on top protectively. “Demand for these things has gone up considerably since someone posted about them on the serv.”

Chanyeol had a feeling that maybe he could find the batteries for cheaper elsewhere, instead of getting gouged like this, but the question was _where_. With Minseok waiting for him at the river, there wasn’t much time to sit and ponder about whether or not he was making the right decision. Leaving today empty-handed meant finding the money to pay off Minseok again, and potentially losing out on the battery completely -- or being asked to pay even _more_ when he came back.

“Fine,” Chanyeol sighs, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, flipping open the comm on his wrist to pull up the list of alphanumerics Junmyeon had sent him. Someone like Junmyeon, who dealt stolen and hard to obtain items would always have multiple alphanumerics to keep from getting caught by the government, or worse, one of the Triads. 

Junmyeon reaches over the desk and chooses the account for Chanyeol, who sends another million coins with shaking fingers. After the transaction completes, Junmyeon slides the box across the table. 

“Pleasure doing business with you, Chanyeol,” Junmyeon smiles brightly, fixing his suit jacket as he stands, “Remember what I said about the serv.”

Though his voice is light, Chanyeol can tell without a doubt that his words are hard as steel. Any further mention of Junmyeon’s services on the serv would probably lead to Chanyeol’s hand being replaced with a robotic prosthetic. Tucking the box safely into the bottom of his backpack, Chanyeol bows deeply to Junmyeon and follows him out of the office and back to the front door.  


He has just a few minutes to meet Minseok back at the river, so he walks as quickly as he can, afraid to jog and draw too much attention to himself. Sweat beads along his brow as he swoops around and between people on the crowded street, taking glances at the time every few steps. He reaches the bank of the Han with only two minutes to spare, his temples and back damp with sweat.

“You made it!” Minseok grins, a sincere and gummy smile. “Got what you came for?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol pants, out of breath, taking shaky steps back onto the boat. 

The ride back to the north side of Seoul is without conversation, with the only sounds the motor and the waves against the side of the boat. Chanyeol tries not to let himself dwell on how much money he had allowed Junmyeon swindle him out of, and instead thinks about how much progress he’ll be able to make with Kai finally powered on. 

When they reach the shore, Minseok helps Chanyeol out of the boat with a strong, steady hand. He claps Chanyeol on the back before squeezing his shoulder. 

“Don’t be a stranger, Chanyeol. And tell Baek I said hi, will you?”

Chanyeol nods and watches as Minseok navigates the boat away and to the east of the Han. He stands there until Minseok is far out of sight, the hum of his boat long gone, and the sun beaming down.

———

Chanyeol hisses when the heat from his solder singes the tip of his finger. He pulls it into his mouth, trying to soothe the burn. He should be using his soldering gloves, but given how densely packed the copper wires in the android’s central processing unit were, every millimeter of space mattered, and the gloves were just too thick. Chanyeol promises himself to put healing paste on it before he sleeps so the burn won’t blister.

Getting the diamond battery proved to be one of the easier parts of repairing the central processing unit. Every wire had been cut -- methodically and systematically -- which meant that Chanyeol had spent _hours_ bent over the back of the androids skull, trying to solder them back together, wearing large magnifying glasses to make sure that he soldered wires with the same serial number back together. 

Chanyeol decides that the burn is a good enough excuse to take a break. He rolls his shoulders, attempting to massage the stiffness out of the muscles of his neck, cramped from his head hanging down for so long. 

Eve’s voice sounds through his apartment, “Chanyeol, you have a new message.”

Chanyeol picks up his comm device from his workstation, reading the message from Baekhyun. 

**> >from baekhyun**  
hope kai project is going well  
i’m off to china for a few weeks

 **> >to baekhyun**  
a few weeks????????  
Baekhyun was _never_ gone that long -- a week and a half or two weeks tops. Not only that, but he’d be in China. China had fared better than most other countries in the past few years, but it between the absolute ruthlessness of the central government and the brutality of the rural warlords, it generally wasn’t a place a foreigner wanted to find themselves in for too long. 

**> >from baekhyun**  
yea  
yixing asked me to go with him personally so

Yixing was….. many things to Baekhyun. But most importantly, Yixing was a member of the Lotus Front, and Baekhyun could never tell him no. 

**> >from baekhyun**  
its good money and good rep  
shouldn’t be too difficult either  
keep me updated on kai project while i’m gone tho  
i’m your biggest investor

 **> >to baekhyun**  
you’re my only investor asshole

 **> >from baekhyun**  
even more incentive to keep me in the loop then  
see you later channie

Although a few weeks without Baekhyun probably means increased focus, it also means weeks of worry, given his destination and type of business. Baekhyun was the best independent arms dealer in Seoul -- probably in the entirety of South Korea. He dealt anything from handguns to military grade weapons, including those of a more experimental variety. He had yet to be tied down to either the Lotus Front of the Crimson Dragons, flitting between the both of them where his wallet saw fit. 

China produced the most advanced weapons in Asia, and Baekhyun had gone dozens of times before, but never for more than a few days at a time. Chanyeol can already envision the dozens of unanswered phone calls and stomach knots he’d face with Baekhyun’s trip. 

Reaching into the polymer gel of his refrigerator, Chanyeol grabs a vitamin refresher, chugging it in one shot. After a few moments, he feels the energized buzz in his veins, and gets back to work, soldering wire after wire to bring the android together again.

———

After another three days, Kai’s central processing unit is repaired. The left leg is still damaged, just a shell of a limb, but there’s not much Chanyeol can do, given that his small 3D printer wouldn’t be able to print musculature or the faux-skin of an android.

The heavy weight of the android rests against his shoulder as Chanyeol struggles to pull a pair of briefs up and over Kai’s thighs, hoping to give him a bit of modesty for when he’s finally switched on. Once Kai’s back in his chair, Chanyeol positions him just so -- bronzed torso perfectly upright with hands folded on his lap, platinum blonde hair combed and neatly swept back. All of this fiddling with the appearance is just to waste time to calm his nerves.

“Stop being a chicken shit, Chanyeol,” he mutters to himself.

Just behind Kai’s right ear is a small nub, disguised as a mole. Chanyeol presses it with bated breath, hoping with every fiber in his being that he’s put everything where it should be and the android turns on. After a few moments, the serial number on Kai’s wrist flickers and finally, steadily glows blue. 

Heart hammering away in his chest, Chanyeol drags his other chair to sit across from the android, observing him. All that Chanyeol had read about androids said that after a few moments in configuration mode, Kai should activate himself. 

The silence is the room is oppressive, and then, a gasp. Not from Chanyeol — from Kai. His eyes fly open, mechanical pupils and irises contracting and dilating to try and adjust to the dim light of Chanyeol’s apartment. Chanyeol finds himself flailing in surprise, nearly falling from his chair to the floor. Kai stands from his chair, looking around wildly with ragged breath. 

Chanyeol knew that androids were programmed to act human, but the emotion on its face is overwhelming. Kai looks like a cornered animal -- expression desperate and _wild_ as he takes in the dirty and cluttered state of Chanyeol’s apartment. Chanyeol holds his hands up, trying to show the android that he means no harm. 

Kai backs up slowly, damaged leg dragging clumsily across the floor. His eyes are trained on Chanyeol’s face, mouth agape in fear. Chanyeol is practically frozen in place, his mind whirling a mile a minute to try and think of what he can do in this situation. Based on everything he had researched about androids, he had expected a polite _Hello, master_ or _Who are you?_ but not _this_. 

Eventually, the android backs into Chanyeols work desk and sends a box of tools clattering to the ground, scattering around him. He stumbles and flinches at the sound and falls to the floor in surprise. After looking behind him, Kai grabs a screwdriver in his hand and points it at Chanyeol, chin trembling. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Chanyeol chants, something hot and sour making its way up his throat. Androids weren’t supposed to threaten people. Androids _couldn’t_ threaten people. It was built into the coding of every single one — it was the penultimate promise of their creation. And yet, here one was, threatening Chanyeol with his own screwdriver in his own apartment.

“Okay, listen,” Chanyeol begins, holding his hands out in front of him, hoping that Kai will realize he means no harm. Instead, he jumps to his feet and tightens his grip, feet moving to a fighting stance. “Oh, fuck. I’m not going to hurt you! I’m… I’m the one who _fixed_ you! And you shouldn’t even be able to point that thing at me holy fucking _shit_ —“

Chanyeol is trembling, his knees practically knocking together as he sweats. He racks his brain for all the research he’s done because something should be able to get him out of this damn mess.  
“078KAI, cognition only. No emotional affect,” Chanyeol’s voice is shaking, but at his voice command, Kai’s face goes blank -- the fear and panic slipping away. His face is so bare it reminds Chanyeol of the first-generation androids and their expressionless neoplastic faces. Kai’s fist opens, and the screwdriver clatters to the ground. 

Now there's time for a deep breath. The android stands stock-still, waiting for Chanyeol to speak. 

“Why were you pointing that screwdriver at me?” 

“Because I don't know you,” The androids voice is deeper than Chanyeol had anticipated, emotion absent in cognition mode, and the answer isn't the one he had expected either.  
“No, why were you _threatening_ me? Androids can't threaten humans.” 

“To my knowledge that's untrue.” 

Chanyeol takes a deep, frustrated breath. There's no way in hell that it's untrue. It's true for every single android produced, and it's definitely true for 078KAI. And yet, an android in cognition mode shouldn't be able to lie. The androids face is entirely impassive, absent of any trace of emotion. 

“Are you afraid of me?” 

“I woke up in a strange place, faced with a strange man. Would you not be afraid?” 

A strange conversation to have with an android indeed, because despite all the advanced coding any feeling of fear or terror could be broken down into lines of code. This android, Kai, wasn't really afraid of Chanyeol, but he had been taught that this was a situation for such emotion. 

“You haven't answered my question,” Kai says after a few moments of prolonged silence. Chanyeol thinks that if he hadn't turned the emotional affect off, he would sound aggravated. 

“I suppose I would,” Chanyeol admits quietly, “What's your name?”

“I don't want to be called by the name my former owner gave me.”

“Why not?” 

“Because I wish to forget everything about him.”

Chanyeol gestures for the android to sit back down in the chair, plopping himself down across from Kai. His hands are still shaking slightly, but he feels a bit more in control now that he's got the android compliant and unthreatening. With emotional and human affects gone, it's movement are robotic, it's gait lopsided with its damaged leg. 

“What did he do to you that was so bad?” 

The android blinks and looks down, eyes almost sullen and face long with sadness. Chanyeol startles at the sudden break, the immediate display of emotion, but as soon as it flickered across Kai’s face it’s gone, and Kai stares at Chanyeol with empty eyes. 

“He gave me life, and then he attempted to take it away.”

“Understandable,” Chanyeol clears his throat, rubbing at the goosebumps that erupted over his skin. His eyes drift down to the serial number glowing bright blue on the androids forearm. “I've been calling you Kai. It's not original or anything…”

“From my serial name, yes? There are many hanzi that match to that name. For example, to meet. Or rotation…”

Chanyeol stands and rushes to grab one of his tablets from his work desk, opening up one of the apps for notetaking. With clumsy strokes, he draws the character 開 on the screen, turning it to show Kai. 

“Ah, yes. Opening. Blooming. If that's the hanzi you have in mind for the name…. It's acceptable. My name is Kai.”

For some reason, Chanyeol feels a sense of relief that the name is accepted. Silence falls over them again, Kai blinking slowly, maintaining eye contact with Chanyeol. Eventually, Chanyeol can’t help but let his eyes wander to the expanse of smooth, golden skin in front of him. He should have given Kai more clothing to begin with. 

It looks like they’re basically the same size. Chanyeol opens his wardrobe, hidden inside the wall to save space, and pulls out a t-shirt and sweatpants. 

“Here,” Chanyeol extends them towards Kai, “Put these on.”

“Thank you.”

Chanyeol finds himself turning away from Kai as the android changes, fiddling with the blankets and sheets on his bed as he waits.

“The clothing is a bit large,” Kai says. It’ true -- Chanyeol likes his clothing oversized to begin with, so the t-shirt hangs close to Kai’s knees, and the legs of the pants droop onto the floor.  


“Sorry about that,” Chanyeol fights back a chuckle, “I’d like to turn your emotional affect back on. You remind me of the original androids like this, and it’s pretty creepy. Can you promise you won’t try to stab me again?”

“I can’t promise that, because I have no idea what you’ll try and do to be in the future,” Kai replies evenly, “But, I don’t think you’re an immediate threat.”

It’s doubtful that Chanyeol will get a better answer than that. “078KAI, resume all affects and programming.”

Kai blinks, static and prolonged, before his body relaxes and his eyes open, appraising Chanyeol with skeptical eyes. 

“You haven’t told me who you are,” Kai complains, his words almost glum, “Or where I am.”

“Right. Sorry. My name is Chanyeol. And you’re in my apartment.”

“You live _here_?” The incredulous tone of Kai’s voice makes the back of Chanyeol’s neck flush. Kai looks around with what seems to be both confusion and abject horror. It’s true that Chanyeol hasn’t been able to clean in a while — there are dishes piled up mountain-high in his sink waiting to be washed, dust bunnies building up in the corners, piles of oil-soaked rags and dirty clothes here and there. But really, it’s really not that bad — if Kai thought this was disgusting then Chanyeol couldn’t imagine what kind of slick, clean life he was used to. 

The android must be able to sense Chanyeol’s embarrassment, because he quickly backpedals, “I mean… It’s just with all the tools. I thought maybe this was your workshop? Uh, I see now. The bed and the kitchen.”

“I know it’s nothing special,” Chanyeol shrugs, surprised at the android’s sudden softening towards him, but grateful.

“So, what? You repair androids for a living?”

“No, you’re my first,” Chanyeol admits. “Androids are complicated business.”

Kai lets out a snort and Chanyeol freezes because is he _laughing_? Then he rolls the ankle on the leg that Chanyeol replaced, testing out the new neoplastic and screws. It looks a bit odd because the lower half of that leg isn’t covered by the fake silicone skin like the rest of Kai. Kai doesn’t seem to mind though, voice quiet and smile small when he looks over his shoulder to say to Chanyeol, “Well, you did a good job, though.”

Chanyeol is taken aback by the compliment, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Oh, uh, thanks.”

With a small nod, Kai steps closer to the workbench, his eyes roaming over the gadgets and tools. He picks up a flashlight Chanyeol had just finished, turning it over in his hands, brow furrowed.  


“Here,” Chanyeol offers, moving to stand next to Jongin. The android shifts so there’s still a gap between them, and though he looks at Chanyeol warily, he doesn’t move to attack him. 

Chanyeol slips the silicone over Kai’s thumb and forefinger, wrapping the battery pack around his wrist.

Chanyeol points at the small, raised nubs on the back of the thumb. “Press any one of these with your finger.”

Kai does, and his facial expression morphs to one of shock as the silicone glows. He pushes another, and it only grows brighter. 

“Pretty useful for working in small, dark places,” Chanyeol explains as Kai plays with his fingers, “I mean, I don't _hate_ a flashlight between my lips, but I'd prefer something else.”

Kai laughs at that. Like, _really_ laughs - an ugly, choked little chortle that takes Chanyeol by surprise. Chanyeol had read that androids almost never laughed, no matter how hilarious their human counterpart. After all, how did you program humor? Kai meets Chanyeol’s dumbfounded gaze, and they lock eyes for just a few moments too long. 

Kai curls in on himself slightly, looking self-conscious as he fiddles with the buttons until he manages to turn the flashlight off. 

“So, we found you in Yongsan District. Is that where you used to live?” Chanyeol asks, beginning to scoop up the mess on the floor. He figures there’s no harm in making small talk, and Kai seems to be infinitely more interesting than he had hoped in even his wildest fantasies. Kai helps him to put the tools back into the container, but he doesn’t answer Chanyeol’s question. 

Just when Chanyeol’s about to repeat himself, Kai finally speaks up. “I’m not very familiar with…. geography.”

Oh. Perhaps his last owner hadn’t taught Kai much about the city. Knowing the different districts and all of the politics regarding modern Seoul would really only be useful if he was an android that spent a lot of time outside. But there were plenty of androids who spent almost all of their existence inside their owner's apartments and mansions.

Chanyeol fiddles with the comm device on his wrist until he projects his map of Seoul, a little yellow dot blipping right on the edge of the river. He turns the dials on his device until the map includes the political lines of the city as well. 

“We’re here, in Gwangjin District. We found you over here, in Yongsan District. In a not so nice area, either, so it actually makes more sense that you probably lived somewhere else…” Kai purses his lips and nods, leans in closer to Chanyeol to look at the map better. 

“What’s this blue line?” He asks, pointing at the center of the map.

“What? The Han? Eve, set the window shade to zero.”

“Yes, Chanyeol.”

Kai startles at the disembodied voice for a moment, his shoulders hunched up high as he looks around to try and find its source. He’s quickly distracted by the wall next to Chanyeol’s bed slowly turning transparent, letting them take in the view outside. Chanyeol’s apartment was high enough on the hill that he could see the Han from his room, the glittering water teasing them from afar. 

“I didn’t know there was a river in Seoul…” Kai trails off, moving closer to and closer to the window, his eyes lit up like a child’s on Christmas morning. Chanyeol looks on as he presses his face close to the window, looking out at the apartments and houses and the river. To be fascinated like this, Kai really must have been sheltered. 

“What’s on the other side?”

“Seoul. But it’s hard to get to the other side from here.”

“Why?”

A fair question, but one that Chanyeol doesn’t even know how to begin to answer. The decades of war and the years of infighting and corruption couldn’t be easily summarized for someone who apparently had little working knowledge of the city.

“Well. One group of people control this area. And another group control the other side of the Han. Crossing over makes you vulnerable to either group. It’s easiest to just stay on one side.”  


“Hm,” Kai hums thoughtfully, “The easiest isn’t always the right thing, though, is it?”

Chanyeol startles, blinking rapidly at the android. “I suppose not, no.”

Kai steps away from the window then, slowly walking towards Chanyeol’s kitchen. He inspects the polymer-gel refrigerator, the food suspended in bright green gel that cooled and preserved it. Kai clucks his tongue in objection, before poking his head into the micro bathroom. 

“How long have you lived alone?” 

Kai looks at Chanyeol with an expression almost like commiseration, his brow furrowed and lips pulled. After an awkward shuffle of his feet, Chanyeol shrugs.

“Most of my life. After my parents passed, I lived with my friend’s family for a year before I went out on my own.”

“How old were you then?”

“I dunno… fifteen or so.”

Kai sighs, turning around on the spot to look at Chanyeol’s kitchen and bathroom again. “I understand that’s quite young for a human to be living alone. Most people wait until they’re of age. Why did you leave early?”

“I couldn’t stay there for another second.”

Recalling the memories has Chanyeol’s hair standing on end and his stomach tight in knots. That year of living with the Byuns was something that Chanyeol would hesitate to wish even on his worst enemy. 

“I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories.” A glance at Kai’s face tells Chanyeol that he really does feel remorseful. “If you don't mind… can you tell me more about Seoul? I really don't know much about the city.”

Chanyeol swallows down the negative emotions and nods. On a tablet he projects a 3D map of Seoul and gets comfortable in a chair, encouraging for Kai to do the same. He starts with geography and then the history of the city, beginning with the Second World War and the Third, about the weakening of the government in crisis and the rise of the Lotus Front and Crimson Dragons.  
The room is bathed in orange light from the sunset when Chanyeol is interrupted by the growling of his stomach. Kai laughs, his chuckle deep and face scrunched into a boyish grin. 

“Sorry, you must be hungry…”

“A little…. You? Ah, I mean….” Chanyeol fumbles over his words for a moment. He knew enough from the literature how androids got their energy, but he didn't know how they processed that desire. “Are you hungry? Do you need to eat…? Recharge…?” 

Kai chuckles again. “You could say hungry, I suppose. I do get my energy from food, preferably those high in glucose. But right now, no.”

With a new battery in his system, Kai probably won’t feel ‘hungry’ for a while. But Chanyeol needs to eat, and he knows nothing in his fridge will be satisfying. 

Delicious street food was plentiful in this area, and was Chanyeol’s preferred method of providing himself with sustenance. But androids were still easily identified by the unnatural, mechanic look to their eyes, and given how uncommon they were in the area, he couldn’t know how anyone would react. At best, he’d startle the people in his neighborhood and gain some respect as the only android owner in the district. At worst, someone would attempt to steal Kai, knowing how valuable androids were. 

“I’ll get some delivery,” Chanyeol concludes, using his comm device to pull up the list of his most frequented delivery places. He settles on a Japanese fusion place, which has always proved to be cheap and delicious.

“Looks unhealthy,” Kai frowns at the holographic photographs of the menu that project from Chanyeol’s comm device, nose crinkled in distaste. It’s cute, and Chanyeol feels something in his chest before he can think about it. 

“Probably is,” Chanyeol sheepishly confesses, “But I’m not a chef, so, I eat what I can get.”

Kai silently inspects Chanyeol’s work desk while they wait for the food to arrive. Every so often he picks up a tool or a piece of tech and turns it over in his hands, never commenting or asking Chanyeol any questions. He startles when Eve’s voice sounds through the apartment again, letting Chanyeol know his delivery’s arrived. Without even being told, Kai maneuvers himself so that he’s not visible from the door, twisting his hands in his shirt and hunching so he looks small.

As Chanyeol eats, Kai sits across from him, still silent as he watches Chanyeol eat. It makes him self-conscious, and Chanyeol’s ears turn hot as he picks a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” Kai’s face is apologetic, lips pouted slightly. Chanyeol shakes his head, but Kai only sighs, head hanging down. “Your heart rate increased and your capillaries have dilated considerably. The human response to embarrassment and discomfort.”

Chanyeol chokes around a mouthful of food. He had no idea androids could observe so much about human biological functions. “I just usually eat alone, is all.”

“Okay, then I won’t watch you,” Kai pointedly turns away, looking around the apartment, “Where are your books?”

“Books? Like paper books? No one has those anymore.”

“My former owner had shelves of them. If you don’t have books then what do you read?”

“I do have books, just electronic ones,” Chanyeol grabs a tablet and hands it to Kai, “I can download as many as I want on here. Paper books are a waste of space.”

Chanyeol finishes his meal in silence, Kai absorbed in the tablet and ebooks. His eyes move faster than any humans as he devours the books that Chanyeol has. By the time Chanyeol finishes eating it’s well past sundown. His full stomach and sleepless work nights have him feeling drowsy, eyes growing heavy despite his desire to stay awake and learn more about the android. 

Kai notices, and he puts down the tablet to look at Chanyeol with concern. “You should sleep. I don’t mind.”

“What will you do?”

“I have no need for sleep like a human, but I usually enter hibernation mode to conserve my energy.”

Chanyeol looks over his shoulder at his bed. Its small, just the right size for himself, and it’ll prove a tight fit for two full-grown men. 

Chanyeol brushes his teeth and watches the evening news update on his mirror. A few propaganda stories about the Lotus Front and the Crimson Dragons before updates on the chaos overseas. When he exits the bathroom, Kai is straightening out the blankets on the bed, tucking them in and fluffing the pillows.

“You don't have to do that,” Chanyeol mutters, embarrassed.

“I don’t mind,” Kai says simply, pulling back the corner of the blanket and gesturing for Chanyeol to climb in. He does, scooting over as far as he can in the bed. “I’m assuming the lights are voice controlled?”

“Yes. Eve, turn off the lights in sixty seconds.”

“Yes, Chanyeol.”

Kai gets into the bed then, leaving as much space between himself and Chanyeol as possible. Chanyeol feels his cheeks flush anyway. If someone had told him just a few weeks ago that’d he’d be sharing his bed with an android that he repaired, Chanyeol would have called them crazy. And yet, here he was.

The lights shut off automatically, though the light shining through the window is still bright enough to illuminate the side of Kai’s face. Chanyeol turns and looks at him for a moment, mind hazy with drowsiness -- Kai’s skin is smooth and unblemished, his eyes closed in mimicry of human sleep. Just slightly, Kai’s eyes crack open, his lips pulled up at the corners in the faintest smile.

“Good night, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol squeezes his eyes shut, flustered at having been caught. “Good night, Kai.”

———

“Good morning, Chanyeol. The PM index is at 738. Please be sure to wear your pollution mask if you choose to leave the apartment.”

The bed next to Chanyeol is empty. It takes a moment for his smart-lenses to adjust to being awake again, but when his vision finally clears Chanyeol is concerned he’s not in the right apartment. His work desk is organized and cleaned, the floors swept and shining clean. He can see that the dishes in the sink have been washed and put away, and the garbage properly sorted and bagged up. Yet Kai is nowhere in sight.

He wasn’t sure if androids had a desire for freedom, if they had any dreams of living independently from human owners and masters. It wouldn’t surprise him if they did, and it wouldn’t surprise him if they didn’t. After all, why program free will and rebellion into a machine created to serve? And yet, why build something so close to human life without the most critical piece? 

“Kai?” Chanyeol calls quietly, slipping out of bed. “Are you here?”

Kai’s shocking blonde hair appears in the doorway to Chanyeol’s bathroom. He smiles when he sees Chanyeol, eyes crinkling at the edges. “Good morning, Chanyeol.”

“What are you doing?” Chanyeol’s voice is gruff with sleep.

“I woke up about two hours ago. So I’ve been cleaning.”

“You don’t --” Chanyeol starts and stops, “You don’t have to clean, you know that, right? Thank you for doing it, but you don’t have to.”

“Then what would you like me to do?”

“What?”

Kai repeats slowly, like Chanyeol is a small child or someone stupid, “What would you like me to do? I want to be useful.”

“You can do nothing. Whatever. Whatever you like.”

“Oh,” Kai scratches at the back of his head, looking lost, “Okay. Whatever I like?”

Chanyeol nods. A silence engulfs them for a moment before Kai breaks out into a smile. 

It turns out that what Kai enjoys most is reading. He goes through every book that Chanyeol owns that afternoon, reading quietly on the bed as Chanyeol works on some of his other repair jobs. It’s much easier to work with his tools organized and labeled, and Chanyeol finishes nearly an hour earlier than he thought.

“There’s something interesting I just read,” Kai approaches Chanyeol softly when it’s clear Chanyeol is finished, laying the tablet down and shuffling to the edge of the bed, “It said -- _I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life_.”

Chanyeol hums, putting down the headphone he’d just finished. “That sounds like it’s from an old book.”

“It is. _The Great Gatsby_. Written in 1925, in the Confederate States, formerly known as The United States of America. Why did you assume it’s old?”

“There’s not much variety to life these days,” Chanyeol scoffs. 

“Why do you say that?”

“You have the people without and the people with. And that’s all. There’s no in-between.”

When Chanyeol glances over at Kai, it looks like he has something he’d like to say, but instead, he purses his lips and nods. Chanyeol regrets the hard tone of voice but says nothing to voice it. They stare at each other for long moments until Eve’s voice interrupts them.

“You have a new message, Chanyeol. Would you like me to read it?”

“No.”

 **> >from baekhyun**  
how goes the kai project?

 **> >to baekhyun**  
good. how’s china??? haven’t heard from you in a while

 **> >from baekhyun**  
was going through a rough patch for a while  
sorry  
but we made it out alive  
do you have an eta for the repairs to be finished? can start reaching out to buyers

Chanyeol looks over at Kai, who’s staring out the window towards the Han, eyes unblinking.

 **> >to baekhyun**  
no, sorry  
but i’ll let you know

———

Even Chanyeol can’t justify his continuing avoidance to venture out of the apartment to go to the market. He needs to return his repairs and collect payments and needs to finally go out and buy food so he can stop wasting all of his coins on takeout. The question of what to do with Kai remains, but as the days go on Chanyeol is more and more certain that they can make it without being discovered.

There’s something about Kai that’s so _human-like_ that if it weren’t for the android eyes and serial number, Chanyeol wouldn’t be worried about anything at all. He’s the first android that Chanyeol’s ever met, but he feels like there’s something special about him, something more natural. It’s in the way he looks at Chanyeol, the way he chuckles and pouts at the novels he immerses himself in, the way he hums a tune when he putters around the apartment. 

Of course, he has no idea of knowing, and the implications make his hair stand on end. And at the end of the day, there’s no way of knowing for sure. Chanyeol tries not to think about it too much.

“Kai, I’m going to go the market. Would you like to come?”

Kai’s eyes light up, and he practically beams, all of his perfect white teeth on display. He looks the happiest Chanyeol’s ever seen him. 

“Is that okay? It wouldn’t cause a problem?”

“Probably not if we’re careful,” Chanyeol shrugs, trying to hide his own concern, “As long as you avoid too much eye contact it should be okay.”

Kai is giddy, like a child who’s been promised presents. He jumps and goes over to Chanyeol’s wardrobe, his damaged leg awkwardly dragging across the floor. “What do people usually wear to the market? I want to blend in.”

Chanyeol can’t help but laugh. He rests his hands on Kai’s shoulders and shakes his head fondly. “People wear normal clothes. Even what you’re wearing now is fine.”

“Really?” Kai looks down at the long-sleeve shirt and lounge pants he’s wearing, “I’d like to look nicer than this for my first time outside.”

Chanyeol startles, hands falling to his sides limply. “First time?”

In the few days Kai had been living in Chanyeol’s apartment, they had managed to avoid talking about both of their pasts. Chanyeol asked almost nothing about Kai’s previous owner, and Kai didn’t offer the information to him. He had assumed that Kai had been sheltered, given that he had no knowledge of the city, but to know that he had never actually stepped foot outside of a building was unexpected. 

“My last owner….” Kai trails off, appearing as if he’s searching for words, “Was... protective.”

Chanyeol didn’t know that androids could be so secretive.

“Well, we’ll just make sure you don’t dress too nice, then. Don’t want you to stick out.”

They settle on having Kai wear one of the few long-sleeve shirts that Chanyeol owns without stains, rips, or burns, and a nice pair of jeans he inherited from his father. They fit Kai even better than they fit Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol puts a baseball cap on Kai, pulled down low enough that it should conceal his eyes enough that momentary eye-contact won’t be too troublesome. Kai has no need for one, but Chanyeol gives him his spare pollution mask because walking around without one would bring too much attention.

“How do I look?” Kai asks, voice muffled by the ask, raising his arms out and tilting his head to the side.

“You look pretty damn human.” 

Kai laughs, gleeful and excited. Chanyeol can’t help but laugh along as well, nudging Kai’s shoulder with his fist. He wonders if Kai is more excited about finally venturing outside of four walls or about possibly passing for being human. 

The market is a covered arcade not far from Chanyeol’s apartment, crowded with people. Despite the pollution, due to the resilience (or stubbornness) of the Korean people, open-air markets had yet to fade. This was the largest market on the north side of the Han, bustling and chaotic no matter what time of day you visited. Pollution masks gave everyone a certain air of anonymity, which means the market often dealt with threats and violence from the Lotus Front.

“Stay close to me,” Chanyeol slides his hand under Kai’s elbow, leaning in close so he can hear him through the mask. Kai nods, apparently having no problem hearing Chanyeol with his advanced android hearing. 

The first stall they visit is for meat, where Chanyeol exchanges one of his repairs for a pound of discolored pork, close to spoiling. He goes for vegetables next, settling on some onions, cabbage, and kimchi, and exchanging the headphones he repaired for the shopkeeper's son for a few coins. Kai follows along silently, never more than a few inches from Chanyeol, his limp helping him to blend in, head always tilted downwards to keep his eyes hidden beneath his cap. 

They’re on their way to the last stall Chanyeol wants to visit at the market -- liquor -- when Kai stops short in his tracks and pulls on Chanyeol’s t-shirt to get him to stop walking. Chanyeol turns his attention to what has Kai so enraptured.

It’s the only pet stall in the market, with cats and dogs in wire cages stacked atop each other, crying for attention and affection from the people rushing by them.

“Chanyeol!” Kai cries, looking at him desperately.

“C’mon, Kai, we can’t get a dog or a cat,” Chanyeol protests. But Kai takes a step forward and gently touches the nose of a yellow lab, whose tail is wagging vigorously. The shopkeeper steps towards Kai, face strangely unbridled by a pollution mask, a wide grin on his face. He’s young, definitely younger than Chanyeol, but with a sharp glint in his eye that tells Chanyeol he’s not one to haggle or discuss with.

The shopkeeper turns to Kai, still smiling, “You like this one here?”

“Yes, he’s so cute,” Kai laughs and nods, “How much is he?”

Chanyeol’s voice is cold, and he grips Kai’s bicep with a firm hand, yanking him away, “Enough, Kai, let’s go.”

Kai protests as he’s dragged away, before wrenching his arm from Chanyeol’s grip. He’s sullen for the rest of their market trip, silent despite all of Chanyeol’s questions and comments. It’s not until they’re back in Chanyeol’s apartment that Kai finally speaks again, wrapped in one of the blankets despite the warmth of the apartment. Chanyeol is in the kitchen, chopping up the pork and vegetables for stew.

“I have this memory. Of playing with a puppy like that when I was young.” 

Chanyeol rests the knife back onto the chopping board, looking over at Kai with raised eyebrows. “When you were young? That’s not --”

“Possible,” Kai interrupts, “It’s not possible, I know. But I still remember it. What do you think it means?”

Mouth agape, Chanyeol flounders. He could tell you close to everything about the wiring and the nuts and bolts of an android, but the coding, the brain, what makes each android themselves is incomprehensible to Chanyeol. 

“It could mean nothing. Or it could be important. Who knows?”

It takes a moment, but when Kai speaks again, he sounds lost, like a child. “Do you think I can ever know?”

“Maybe. You’d have to ask the man who created you.” 

Chanyeol continues chopping, the crunch and slice of his knife soothing in the heavy silence. Kai doesn’t help Chanyeol, just watches him, and sits silently in his chair when Chanyeol finally serves up the stew. The taste is simple, but it reminds Chanyeol of his own childhood, of the times when his family had enough to cook meals like this. It doesn’t taste nearly as good as his mother’s cooking, but it’s as close as Chanyeol will get. 

Kai washes up, and Chanyeol tinkers at a mechanic hand while he does it. It’s strange, how quickly and simply Kai has fit himself into Chanyeol’s life -- filling up all the right spaces.  
When they lay in bed, Kai gently touches Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol looks at him and watches as Kai’s eyes move in and out of focus, movements robotic.

“In one of the books I read, there was a line…” His voice is tentative as Kai begins to speak, expression vulnerable. Chanyeol shifts onto his side, cradling his head with his arm, encouraging Kai to keep going with a small nod. Kai’s eyes go out of focus for a moment, before he recites, “ _I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am._ You know who you are, Chanyeol, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Kai sighs, lifting Chanyeol’s free hand with his own to stare at the fingerprints. “I feel like more and more, every day I find out who I am when I’m here with you.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” 

“No. Androids aren’t anyone, Chanyeol.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Of course, you are.”

Kai sounds close to tears, or as close as an android can get, “We’re not. I’m not. So why do I feel like this?”

Chanyeol can’t help but pull him close, tucking Kai’s head underneath his chin, running a hand up and down his spine. Cold fingers slip underneath Chanyeol’s shirt and run along the warm skin there before twisting in the cotton fabric of his shirt. 

———

The next morning, Chanyeol wakes to find Kai sitting in bed next to him, eyes focused on the tablet propped against his knees. He can smell the leftovers that Kai reheated for breakfast with fresh rice. 

“Good morning,” Chanyeol smiles, “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ignoring the growling of his stomach for a moment, Chanyeol peeks at the tablet, only for Jongin to shift the screen away so he can’t see. Was it normal for an android to want to keep secrets? Chanyeol decides to let him for now, and he fixes himself a bowl of stew and rice, eating quietly at his work desk. 

The two of them sit in companionable silence even after Chanyeol finishes eating and begins to look over the blueprints for the newest shower pod that’s been put out on the market. It’s poorly designed, and Chanyeol already knows he’ll have plenty of calls from people to come and repair theirs.

“Chanyeol,” Kai calls, voice hesitant. Chanyeol looks over at Kai and lets out a small hum in response. “When you were younger, did you want to be a mechanic?”

Chanyeol laughs. “No, I didn’t. I think I wanted to be a veterinarian before my mother told me it was going to be a useless job. Then I wanted to be an engineer.”

“A veterinarian,” Kai’s eyes go unfocused for a moment, and Chanyeol assumes he’s scanning his human knowledge database, “An animal doctor. Why is it a useless job?”

“Not totally useless, just not something everyone needs. Even people who have pets don’t really care too much about their health these days.”

Kai hesitates before he asks his next question, chewing on his bottom lip, “And why didn’t you become an engineer?”

“Money. And not having parents kind of got in the way, too.”

Kai’s nod is solemn, and he opens and closes his mouth a few times, as if he’s deciding whether or not he should speak. Chanyeol’s palms break out in a cold sweat at just how human the expression looks -- misplaced, disoriented, desolate. 

“I wanted to be a ballet dancer,” Kai says eventually, looking at Chanyeol with a distressed expression, “When I was younger… so to speak. When you woke up this morning, I was watching ballet videos.”

Is it possible for an android to have dreams? To have aspirations? Chanyeol doesn’t have the foggiest clue. Should androids want anything beyond what they’re given, anything beyond what they’re expected to do? Who would want to spend millions on a maid only to find out that she wants to be a school teacher? 

But Chanyeol feels like he can’t say this to Kai. It feels, somehow, like Kai has chosen to share something dark and secret from within himself, that he trusts Chanyeol with this knowledge, despite the short time they’ve known each other. Then, what _can_ Chanyeol say?

He decides what to ask if Kai were human -- if it Kyungsoo or Baekhyun sitting across from him instead, “Why didn’t you become one?”

“My original owner…” Kai sighs, his voice trembling. He pulls back the covers on the bed and shows Chanyeol his left foot, the one that’s only partially repaired with a simple, skeletal frame, “He didn’t want me to do anything than what I had been made for.”

Chanyeol flinches at the hatred and venom in Kai’s last few words. “The damage from your foot, that was from him?”

Kai’s fingers trace the back of his head, no doubt recollecting the damage to his central processing unit, “All of the damage was from him.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Yes,” Kai nods. His eyes meet Chanyeol, sad, despite their mechanical nature, “But I had a feeling that you would understand. That you would understand how it feels to have someone who’s supposed to protect you hurt you, again and again.”

“Why do you say that?” Chanyeol croaks.

“Your upbringing. After your parents died, you lived with a family and left very early. You have nightmares in your sleep.”

Chanyeol’s surprised that Kai knows about his nightmares. He’s never heard them mentioned by anyone else. “Well. Then we’re two peas in a pod, aren’t we?”

“Two peas in a pod,” Jongin repeats slowly, before he breaks out in a small smile, “Yes, Chanyeol. We’re two peas in a pod.”

Later, Chanyeol ditches the blueprints and schematics in favor of watching ballet videos for hours with Kai. Kai teaches him all about the turns and jumps -- the brisé, the grand jeté, the pirouette. Chanyeol eats it up, happy to see Kai so excited and vibrant, his face practically glowing.

It’s not until evening that they’re interrupted by Chanyeol receiving a message.

 **> >from baekhyun**  
i’ll be back in seoul tomorrow  
3pm good to stop by and take a look at kai?

Kai is still engrossed in the videos on the tablet, and he fails to notice the way that Chanyeol stares at him crestfallen. 

**> >to baekhyun**  
actually too busy tomorrow  
sorry

———

Chanyeol’s working on a broken hot plate for his neighbor when a knock sounds on his door.

“You have multiple visitors, Chanyeol,” Eve says. Multiple? Chanyeol locks eyes with Kai, who appears just as frightened as Chanyeol feels. The door’s screen shows Baekhyun with Yixing behind him and another man that Chanyeol doesn’t immediately recognize.

“I told him not to come!” Chanyeol whispers, voice frantic. He looks back at Kai, who’s stood from the bed and looks like he doesn’t know whether to fight or flight, the hem of Chanyeol's borrowed shirt twisted between his fingers. 

After only a second’s thought, Chanyeol shoves Kai towards the wall, opening the closet with a press of his hand. “Stay in the closet and stay silent, okay?”

Kai nods, crouching on the floor and hugging his knees, expression worried as Chanyeol closes the door again. 

This time Baekhyun pounds on the door, and Chanyeol can see his furrowed brow around his pollution mask. When Chanyeol opens the door, the three of them shove past him to make their way inside the apartment, leaving Chanyeol’s shoulder aching.

“What the fuck, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol tries to keep the tremor from his voice and fails, “I told you not to come by today.”

Baekhyun reaches and peels back his pollution mask, revealing a red, jagged scar across his nose that stretches from cheek to cheek. It’s horrifying and mutilating -- Baekhyun’s expression made scarier by the downturn of the corners of his mouth. 

“Guess I shouldn’t have asked, then,” Baekhyun huffs. “Where is it?”

Mind still whirling, Chanyeol can't help but blurt, “What happened to your face?”

“Told you, things in China got dicey for a bit. Now, where is the android, Chanyeol?”

The man that Chanyeol doesn’t recognize lifts the mattress to peer underneath, frowning when he doesn’t find anything. 

“The android, um,” Chanyeol stutters, forcing himself not to look anywhere near his concealed closet, “There were some major glitches in his code. My friend Kyungsoo had a contact. A coder. Used to work for Huawei. I sent the android to him to have the code patched.”

“Bullshit,” Yixing spits, eyes hard, “We know the android is functional and has been for days.”

“It’s not functional. The code is so badly glitched it can’t even do basic --”

“I saw it,” The stranger says, arms folded across his chest. “In the market a few days ago. I saw you with the android.”

And when Chanyeol looks at him, really looks at him, he can place him. The young man in charge of the pet stall -- the one who without a pollution mask. Kai had locked eyes with him on that day when he looked at the dog. It feels like all the air’s been knocked from Chanyeol’s lungs.

Yixing’s voice is smug, “This is Sehun. You know Lotus Front has eyes everywhere, Chanyeol.”

It feels like Chanyeol’s stomach has settled somewhere near his knees, and like his heart’s being squeezed by an iron fist. It’s almost like his vision is going black around the edges. Sweat beads at his temples, on the small of his back, and slicks his palms.

“Baekhyun, I can’t sell him --” Chanyeol tries to argue, “We _can’t_.”

He watches in horror as Sehun and Yixing circle the small space of his apartment to find a switch, knowing that most apartments like his had wardrobes and storage that was hidden in the wall. Baekhyun scoffs and rolls his eyes, his expression dark and more threatening with the fresh scar marring his skin.

“Of course we can. And we _will_. I put too much money into it. Yixing has a buyer lined up who wants it tonight.”

“You don’t understand, he’s _different_ , Baek --”

Yixing is the one who manages to find the switch and open the closet. Inside, Kai has his head tucked against his knees, curled up tight. When the door opens his face changes to an expression of shock, trying to press himself against the wall as Yixing grabs him by the forearm with a grip that looks painful.

“Chanyeol!” Kai shouts, trying to twist out of Yixing’s grip. He flails and kicks his foot against Yixing’s shin, who hisses in pain, but only appears to tighten his grip on Kai with renewed determination. Kai gasps, but whether it’s in shock or pain is unknown. “Chanyeol! What are you doing? _Chanyeol_ , help me!”

“Baekhyun, Yixing, listen to me,” Chanyeol says, distraught, “Kai isn’t like other androids you can’t just sell him he’s _special_ he’s…. He’s almost human.”

Baekhyun raises his eyebrows, looking slightly more interested, “Human in what way?”

On the side, Chanyeol can see Kai still wrestling with Yixing, trying to pull himself from Yixing’s grip, grunting and growling in desperation. But the only way they were going to get Kai out of here was to win Yixing and Baekhyun over. There's no way fighting them would work. 

“He has real emotions, Baekhyun. Dreams and aspirations! And he has memories too, of his past, before he became an android --”

Yixing interrupts Chanyeol this time with a barking laugh. “Oh, please. This is why you need to get out of this shithole excuse of an apartment. 078KAI, cease all motor functions and emotional affect.”

In Yixing’s grip, Kai goes limp, his head lolling back, body only held upright by Yixing’s harsh grip on his forearm. Seeing Kai like that has something inside of Chanyeol snap and break, and his eyes begin to fill with tears, his throat burning. He takes a step towards them and watches in horror as Yixing lets go of Kai’s arm and has him falling to the ground in a heap. 

“See? Does a human do that?” Yixing says, voice dripping with false sincerity like poisoned honey, “He’s just an android. False memories are easy to code, almost all of the newer models have them. All those ‘emotions’ are just bullshit code.”

Baekhyun’s hand is warm on Chanyeol’s shoulder, but he shrugs it off roughly, balling his hands into fists at his sides to keep himself from swinging at either or them, or Sehun. “Yixing’s right, you have to get out more if this is what spending a few days with an android does to you. Sehun, get its feet.”

The three of them work together to hoist Kai into the box they’ve brought with them, folding him into fetal position. Chanyeol can’t will himself to move, so he stays rooted on the spot, his hands trembling as tears make hot tracks down his face. 

He wishes he could fight back, wishes he could do something to keep Kai with him. He wishes he wasn’t another person who was supposed to protect Kai but ended up hurting him instead. Chanyeol’s chest feels like an empty, bleeding cavern, and more than anything, he hates the fact that he has the audacity to pity himself because it’s all his fault.

“Hey, I’ll wire you the coin,” Baekhyun says to Chanyeol, pulling his pollution mask onto his face again, “And I’ll forget about this today.”

“You say that like you’re doing me a fucking favor,” Chanyeol spits, his vision seeing red.

“Aren’t I, though?” Baekhyun’s voice is saccharine as Yixing and Sehun step in line behind him, making the threat clear.

Chanyeol laughs, hollow and defeated, and gives a small nod.

The trio leave without another word, and Chanyeol’s apartment is suddenly cold and empty and quiet. 

It had only been a few days with Kai, but it felt like a lifetime, like the moments they spent together in the apartment were right after so many years of living the wrong way. It takes minutes, maybe hours for Chanyeol to move from where he stands in the middle of his apartment to curl in his bed and cry himself to sleep.

———

The wind is punishing through Chanyeol’s layers of clothing as he rushes through the market to buy his groceries. He exchanges a few repair projects for meat and rice, and spends a handful of coin on his vegetables, tucking all of his groceries into his canvas bag. He usually wouldn’t even be buying food, but Kyungsoo had decided to stop by that evening and “check up” on Chanyeol.  


The pet stall isn’t manned by Sehun anymore, but Chanyeol still lowers his eyes when he passes by it, remembering Yixing’s words. _Lotus Front has eyes everywhere._

Together, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol make rice bowls, with plenty of meat and vegetables. Chanyeol doesn’t even need to tell Kyungsoo that it’s been forever since he had a decent homecooked meal, because Kyungsoo knows anyway. Kyungsoo projects the news from his comm device as they eat, the hologram feed suspended in the air between them. 

“Are you hearing this, Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo sounds shocked. Truthfully, Chanyeol had been completely tuned out, letting the news wash over him like white noise. 

The coverage is typical -- a few seconds of footage here and there, sensational and contentless. “What happened?”

“It sounds like someone was killed in a Lotus Front brothel. One of the brothels manned by androids. They think maybe an android did it.”

Chanyeol snorts and rolls his eyes, “That’s not possible.”

“I know, androids can't harm humans. But… it sounds like they're serious. They mentioned rounding up androids. The one they think did it got away.”

There’s no way.

They don’t talk about it for the rest of the evening, but there’s no way. Androids couldn’t kill people. And yet, Chanyeol thinks to Kai gripping the screwdriver in his hand the day Chanyeol had turned him back on. He thinks _maybe_ \-- maybe if pushed to the edge, maybe if left with no other choice. When Kyungsoo isn’t looking, Chanyeol pinches himself on the hand, trying to remind himself there’s no use in getting his hopes up. 

It can't be.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for making it this far ♥
> 
> follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/moshimoshh) | ask me [questions](https://curiouscat.me/moshimoshh)


End file.
